I love to read books set in foreign lands but I admit most of my reading is usually set in the States or the U.K. So between reading about some exciting reading challenges – Africa & Canada – and wishing I could get on a plane right now, I thought why not take a look at where I have been this year through some armchair travels.
My reading took me to South Africa for The Reactive. That was not a particularly favorite read but I appreciated the contemporary setting and issues the young protagonists are facing in the novel.
From there I moved on to Japan for Confessions. This story was one filled with some great twists and shocking revelations. In the past couple of years I’ve read several crime novels set in Japan and all have been a bit on the dark side but have certainly left an impression on me. Confessions may end up on my favorites list at the end of the year.
From Japan I moved on to Denmark to visit with The Lost Woman. I have travelled to Copenhagen before and it is a great city. Isn’t it funny that a lot of Scandinavian countries always end up on the lists of happiest countries in the world yet a lot of the fiction we get from them is of the crime variety.
Next on my travels was Mexico (a place I carry in my heart) through the pages of Barefoot Dogs. Not all of the short stories in this collection were set in Mexico but it is what connected all of the characters.
Now moving across the globe to Australia for The Dry. Fabulous descriptions in this book and as much as I would love to visit Australia one day, I will need to check the weather before I get on a plane. I already deal with the Texas summer heat, I don’t want to deal with that on vacation. Ha. Oh and I also read The Husband’s Secret which was quite the page-turner.
Finally my literary travels took me to France via Interference. Be prepared for some crazy twists in this one. I don’t think I ever talked too much about it because it was hard to not mention spoilers so be warned if you read any of the reviews online.
While I’m glad I’ve read all of these books with different settings I can’t help but think that the world is such a big place and I need to branch out more in my reading. I may not be able to do much about my June reading as I already have several books going on as it is but there’s still time to think a bit more about my reading for the rest of the year.
What about you? I would love to hear where your reading has taken you so far and if there’s been one standout place that you would actually like to travel to one day.
That’s a great post, Iliana! I enjoy reading about other countries & culture in fiction; it’s the best we can do with the world so big, isn’t it? I’ve just finished reading The Dry and what a great read! I’ve to check out Interference.
🙂 I like traveling through books, too. You can learn a lot through fiction about other countries and cultures! I just finished The Dark Lake by Sarah Bailey, which is set in Australia. And The Great Passage by Shion Miura was another recent book-travel experience to Japan.
How much is your subscription to World Lit contributing to your armchair travels? I may have mentioned that I am itching to subscribe and hope to do so later this year (all the more so becaues the library branch which subscribes to it – with borrowers’ copies, not just for reference – is under construction for more than a year – gah) but of course that will only add to the TBR. In my stack right now are Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions (a coming-of-age set in Zimbabwe) and Margaret Laurence’s The Tomorrow-Tamer (short stories set in Ghana): they both are evocative and descriptive stories that remind me how large is this world!
I recently subscribed to World Lit in hopes of expanding my reading travels thanks to you.
I love reading mysteries set in other countries, and have enjoyed exploring other places. Like you, I could probably read more of them than I do. I’ve read a couple you mention hear (Confessions, The Husband’s Secret).